Section 7A of the Audit Act 1994 requires the Auditor-General to develop an annual plan and present it to Parliament, following consultation with Parliament's Public Accounts and Estimates Committee. The annual plan is a key accountability mechanism for the office of the Auditor-General. It gives Parliament, the public sector and the community an opportunity to assess our goals, understand our audit priorities and scrutinise our program. It sets out, for the coming financial year, our work program and the resources required to implement the program.

This audit examined the effectiveness of the Victorian Public Sector Commission (VPSC) and its governance and its oversight. We focused on organisational planning across VPSC, and looked at how it prioritises its resources and measures its performance.

In this report, we outline the results of, and our observations from, the 2016 financial and performance report audits of the 12 state-owned Technical and Further Education institutes (TAFEs)—and their 16 controlled entities—that operate in the vocational education and training (VET) sector.

This report provides information on the outcomes and findings of the 2016 financial audits of the eight Victorian universities and the 51 entities they control.

This audit assessed the effectiveness of information and communication and technology (ICT) strategic planning in the public health sector. We examined the Department of Health and Human Services and four health services.

In this audit, we examine whether boards are performing effectively and contributing to effective governance of public sector entities. Boards set the overall strategic direction for the entity, and monitor and manage the performance of senior management. In Victoria, around 3 400 public sector entities are governed by boards with, in total, about 33 000 board members.

In this audit, we assess whether the Department of Education and Training has effectively planned for and managed school assets. We considered DET’s role in planning for and managing government primary and secondary school assets. We did not look at Catholic and other independent schools, pre-primary, tertiary, language or specialist schools.

In this audit, we examine how effectively two central agencies and three portfolio agencies support better-practice public participation approaches across their areas of responsibility.

In this audit, we examine the effectiveness of community engagement and participation at the local government level, across six local councils.

This audit aimed to determine if the Department of Environment Land Water and Planning is effectively managing Victoria’s Environmental Effects Statement process.

We assessed whether the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning and councils are managing the planning system to support the objectives of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 and the desired outcomes of state planning policies.

This audit examined whether selected agencies manage public records according to legislative requirements, and whether the Department of Premier and Cabinet and the Public Record Office Victoria are effectively assisting them to do this.